Singapore stocks rise at Monday's open; STI up 0.2%

SINGAPORE shares rose in early trade on Monday (Dec 6) even as the world continues to grapple with uncertainty around the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The Straits Times Index (STI) moved up 0.2 per cent or 5.41 points to 3,107.34 as at 9.03am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 75 to 65, after 65.2 million securities worth S$57.4 million changed hands.

The most active counter by volume was mobile satellite communications equipment company Addvalue Technologies A31 , which gained S$0.005 or 38.5 per cent to S$0.018 after 30.8 million shares were traded.

Marine and offshore engineering group Sembcorp Marine S51 was also actively traded at the open, opening higher at S$0.084, up S$0.001 or 1.2 per cent, with 4.7 million shares changing hands.

Index counter Singtel Z74 was among the most actively traded securities on Monday morning, with 2 million shares traded. The counter traded flat at S$2.38.

The trio of local banks were mixed at the open.

As at 9.03am, DBS D05 was up S$0.11 or 0.4 per cent to trade at S$31.58, while UOB U11 was up S$0.06 or 0.2 per cent to trade at S$26.38. OCBC O39 lost S$0.03 or 0.3 per cent to S$11.26.

Over on Wall Street, US stocks closed lower on Friday (Dec 3), with the tech-rich Nasdaq leading the declines as investors bet that a strong jobs report would not slow the US Federal Reserve's easing of support.

The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.9 per cent to 15,085.47, while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.8 per cent to 4,538.43 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.17 per cent to 34,580.08.

Meanwhile, European shares ended a bumpy week with losses on Dec 3, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 erasing morning gains to close down 0.6 per cent at 462.77.

Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo stocks opened flat on Monday (Dec 6), with lingering worries over a US rate hike partly offset by potentially positive news on the severity of the Omicron variant.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 0.06 per cent or 16.33 points at 28,013.24 in early trade after drifting up and down by less than 0.1 per cent. The broader Topix index was up 0.09 per cent or 1.81 points at 1,959.67.